Under fire for its failure to speak out against the Holocaust or to extend substantial assistance to Jews trapped in Nazi camps across Europe, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) desperately needed to salvage its reputation. The organization emerged from the world war with a new commitment to protecting civilians caught in the crossfire of conflict. But it did so while defending former Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials and issuing travel papers to many of Hitler's former henchmen. In spite all of this, by the end of the decade, the ICRC had emerged triumphant from its moment of existential crisis, navigating the new global order ot reaffirm its leadership in world humanitarian affairs."--Adapted from dust jacket flap.